We Are Golden
by Shinzoku
Summary: For weeks he had searched for the school solely so he could have a safe place to go with food, a bed, and running water. He is happy there, but for a long time he hides from the other students what most of his powers are.
1. Chapter 1

_His stomach growled over and over. He had tried various combinations of plants and even tried to sift through left over fast food, but none of it had satiated his hunger over the past few weeks. He was absolutely foolish to have tried this without any help, but he heard it was a safe place for mutants, and that was all he wanted. He had heard about it in the news and on radio stations and had seen pictures in newspapers of the people who had gone to that school or who still resided there today. He remembered seeing the picture on various posters throughout the country; dozens of mutants all gathered in front of the school. His fingers twitched and his body grew tense as he padded alongside a road. He needed to look as inconspicuous as possible, but there was no specific qualities to him that outed him to the world. His powers were almost untraceable, but he knew exactly what they were. They had helped him escape, but now they could be of no help. _

_The day was beautiful, not a cloud in the sky, with a cool breeze coming off the trees. It was spring, and as soon as he took in a deep breath, he started sneezing over and over until he was a mess. School had to be in session about now, but he was unsure; the sun was just starting to come up, how early did kids even go to school? He needed food and medicine for his allergies and a place to sleep and a bath. There was no guarantee this place would give him any of it, but it was worth a shot, and soon he found the road that led straight up to a building in the distance. A smile spread across his face and he started up the road, too weak to bother running. He had to get there, his life depended on it. There was nowhere else he could go. No one would want to take in a sixteen year old kid, that was apparent from his first few weeks in the country._

_He heard a shout from his left and started to veer right. Bushes began to rustle in all directions and suddenly he found himself cornered, under a canopy of trees. There were too many people, simply too many and he had nothing to help him fight them off, and now he could hardly tell what was up and down, left or right. He was about to feign death, but something about them caught him off guard. They were all in black, gold, and red, and when he went to push one away, he just went right through her. At least five or six were there, it was impossible for him to get anywhere without them pursing him. But he did not want to go anywhere._

_"You're...you're from that mutant place right?" he asked weakly, reaching out a hand to the closest one. Everything seemed to become more a blur, his head felt funny. Finally there could be relief. "Do you have food? Can you help me?" One of them said something, he did not hear. He asked again, and one of them said yes. When he finally heard that, he let himself collapse to the ground. One of them appeared in front of him and caught him before he hit, draping him across his shoulders._

Grumbling, he pressed the palms of his hands to his forehead. He squirmed around until the blankets around him were loose and rolled onto his side, squinting his eyes against the bright light. As usual, his stomach growled. His first thought was to get up and walk around to see if he could find anything, but there was something severely unsettling to him, as if someone was watching him from afar. He gently pulled himself up and leaned back against the pillow, rubbing one of his cheeks with the heel of his palm. There seemed to be absolutely no one there. He let out a pathetic whine and started to pull the sheets off of him. He was perfectly fine, there was absolutely no reason for him to be in such a room as to resemble a hospital.

He swung his legs off, grimacing at the cold linoleum floor, and nearly jumped out of his wits as a man in a wheelchair came into the room. He slid off the bed in his confusion and slammed his head against the metal bed frame. "I didn't think I'd startle you, I'm sorry."

"Food." The boy crawled back onto the bed, his brown eyes wide. "Do you have food? Please tell me you do, I'm so hungry." He collapsed against the sheets and curled up, rubbing his fingers against his temples. "My head hurts and my allergies. You aren't going to kill me, right? You're the good guys?"

The man smiled. "No one will hurt you here, I promise. Lunch is ready upstairs, but first I'd like to ask you some things."

"Sure, sure, whatever. What...what do you need to know?"

"What is your name?"

He thought for a moment while he sucked on his bottom lip. "I...Taz. My name is Taz. Just Taz. I come from...somewhere in Mexico, I can't remember. I have a terrible memory." He sat up in a frenzy and reached out as if he was going to take the man by the front of his brown jacket and shake him around. "They think I'm dead. They think only she survived. My head hurts so bad."

The man was silent, pondering. "I am Charles Xavier, I teach here at the institute. Are you strong enough to walk? If not, I can have Jean or Kurt bring something down for you."

"No, no I'm fine. I promise." He sat up and slowly began to drag himself off the bed again. Bare feet touched cold tiles and sent shivers up his spine, but he gritted his teeth, set his shoulders, and followed the man out of the room. They went up an elevator and even brighter light stung his eyes. It had to have been the weekend, for dozens of kids and adults alike were running about the house. He passed a hunched man with cold blue skin and accidentally walked through a girl- the same girl as before, he remembered- and almost screamed bloody murder when one of the kids became pitch black and erupted in fire while standing in a ray of sun from the windows. The professor introduced him to a pretty red haired woman, a man with glasses, some intimidating guy who wore gloves and had black hair and looked like a wild animal.

The mansion was warm and welcoming. The carpet was soft, the stairs were beautiful, the creamy brown walls so much more inviting than the cold morning air and pale blue sky before a storm. He crossed his arms and shivered without meaning to. This professor beside him was kind enough, but some of the people in the mansion did not look at all inviting, like the wolf, or the speed demon with white hair, or whoever that man was with the floating powers and cape. He was even more stunned when they ran into a blue teenager with a tail, but he was so friendly and ran about the kitchen with such vigor, there was no way he could be in any way bad.

He grinned at Taz and waved with his strange, three fingers. "You're awake! Hungry?" He held out a sandwich which the boy took gingerly. He nibbled it, trying to keep his manners, and sat at the place at the table that the professor pointed to. "I bet you're going to love it here! But you look a little familiar."

"I don't think so," Taz said lightly. "I come from very far away! Mexico. But I was born somewhere in Europe, I think. I'm...Taz."

"I'm Kurt! Nice to meet you. Also, don't eat those cupcakes, Kitty made them." He whispered it so quietly Taz almost did not hear.

When he walked out of the kitchen, Taz dropped his sandwich on the table and held his face in his propped up hands. "You know everything, don't you? You're one of the telepathic ones."

The professor gave a weak smile and shifted so he was sitting next to Taz. "I did not look too far, only enough to understand what you were mumbling about and give you peace But if this is about your powers, you can show us when you're ready. I know someone who'll be able to help you."

"Not now," Taz breathed. He looked up in desperation. "Please. Do you have Tylenol or allergy medicine?"

"Yes, I'll get you some."

Now he stood in front of a small group of adults. There was the huge intimidating brute with black hair and gloves, the guy with blue fur, the professor, the red haired woman, and the man with sunglasses who he kept shying away from; of all the powers he remembered these guys having, it was his, and he did not want to get caught in the lasers. But these guys he knew were safe, and he tried to relax; after five minutes of almost pure silence, his muscles were still tense, his hands wringing together. The sun from the window was warm and his head felt clear now that he had been given medicine and food.

He tried to give a wide, happy smile, but it felt forced. They went through quiet introductions even though he would most likely not remember their names and when silence grew in the room again, the woman with red hair- Jean- inquired about his mutant powers. After all, he had to have them if he was there, right?

"Well I um..." Taz glanced at the professor, who nodded to him. _Go on and say only what you need to. _He froze up again. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "They're really dumb and useless. I can control the liquids and hormones in my body. If I want to, I can slow down my pulse so it's like I'm dead, or I can force the adrenaline if I need to, or I can make myself depressed or stupidly optimistic on a whim." He gave a smile, this time a beautiful, genuine one. "They aren't helpful much, but they have helped me! I can sometimes even trick myself into thinking I'm not hungry. I think I can control some internal body functions, too. It's...it's all over the place."

She rested a hand on his shoulder. "That's fine, that's what we're here for, to help you figure this out."

"Yeah, don't worry," said Scott, his arms crossed. "I'm sure the kids would love to meet you if you're honest about wanting to stay here and check it out. We can get you introduced and have a costume ready for you by tonight's lesson."

"He just came out of the infirmary after three days and you want to throw him into training? Tryin' to kill him?"

Taz's gaze snapped to the huge brute and started to back away. "I- I feel fine, I promise. I'll join in with training, it shouldn't be that hard, right?" He sucked on his bottom lip and looked away. "Can I take a bath, maybe? I haven't had one in a long time."

Two dozen kids stood around him now. Introductions had been short; he would learn their names eventually, and they were too busy mucking around and screwing with the teachers to bother stopping and saying hello. A few girls and a boy had taken a liking to him and wanted to show him around, but before they could do anything one of the teachers walked out of the little group off to the side. Taz stood behind the other students, watching the clouds pass by overhead. His stomach growled, dinner could not be too far away. He was so distracted that suddenly the entire group broke and they started scrambling to a nearby forest. With a horrified look, he started sprinting after a girl on fire. They met up with some kid who could multiply himself and started off in some other direction. For a moment he thought of just going back to the beginning and waiting it out- even risking getting in trouble for not participating- but something held him back. No one would like him if he did that, he would just be seen as a coward if what he had seen of other children this age was true.

The bushes behind him began to rustle. He spun around, his heart beating faster than usual, and a wolf leaped out. Screeching, Taz turned and ran, stumbling over roots and discarded tree branches and even some of the traps that had been sent out.

His screams echoed through the forest. On impulse, he dropped to the ground. The wolf grumbled and nudged his shoulder with her nose. He then felt slender hands take hold of his wrist and then a gasp. When she fled, a smile spread across his face and he jumped up, feeling his wrist; his pulse was back to normal. He took off in one direction, opting to find the girl and the boy he had been chasing after instead the wolf girl. He was on their tracks when he was tackled down by a girl, two metal claws pointed straight at his throat.

She stared at him intensely, nose scrunched, teeth bared.

"Hi, bye," Taz said, throwing her off into a nearby bush. He hauled himself to his feet and brushed off his new uniform. "What is it, attack Taz day or something?"

"Were you not listening? You're on the blue team. You're in the red team's territory."

"What?" He turned around. The girl who had been on fire and the multiplying boy stood with their arms crossed. "Is that your team, then?"

The boy rolled his eyes. "Come on! We're supposed to get the flag. Bersker's somewhere around here. Can you fight or anything?"

"I don't know. I don't really fight. I just...drop dead on the ground."

"What?"

Taz gave a halfhearted smile and looked around sheepishly. "Let's go get that flag. Do you know where it is?"

They crept through the bushes. Amara and Jamie- Taz slinked away, for suddenly there were actually three of him. Well, he watched them motion to someone else, all with a grin on their face. Someone was nearing- someone from the red team- and he started to back away when he was tackled down by the same girl as before. She dragged him away, throwing him around without mercy, and eventually dropped him in an open clearing, her foot pressing down so hard on his chest he was unable to move and hardly able to breathe.

He tried to flail his way out. She grabbed him by the front of his uniform and stood nose to nose with him. "You're supposed to be dead," she snarled.

"Well yes about that-"

She threw him into a tree. "You're supposed to be dead!"

"Ah yes, but let me explain-" Taz started coughing rather violently. He pulled himself to his feet, clinging to the tree, and sweat started to build on his forehead. This girl was not going to listen, at least not when she had those claws of hers. "Just don't kill me yeah?"

They looked together to his right, her left, and saw a huge man coming toward them. Ah it was Logan, Taz remembered, though during training he heard they called themselves by their code names or whatever it was. Taz began to back off, but the teacher snapped at him to stay still and he grabbed the girl's outfit collar before she could lunge again. She started snarling and yelling about how he should be dead. He tried to pull off a smile and alter himself to stop being so scared, but his mind was frazzled, and now he was being asked questions. Out here, his allergies were worse.

Again he had no idea which was was left or right or up or down. He dug his hands into his hair and tried to get away, in fact /begged/ to get away. Logan put a hand on his shoulder. "Kid?"

"No, no, no, no, no, please leave me alone I'll hurt someone- I-" He yanked himself away. Just as he did, he let out a violent sneeze. His hands felt like they were on fire. He tried to get the claws back, tried to retract them and forget that ever happened, but everything was spinning. He dropped to the ground, buried his face in his knees as the girl erupted.

Logan's jaw tensed, but still he knelt down and held out a hand. "You have a _lot _of explaining to do, kid."

"I faked my death," he breathed. The teacher told him to just stop and calm down, but he was ignored. "I was eight, like number eight. Like she's twenty three. And, they didn't think it worked until they tried it again on her and it did work and the only reason they thought it didn't work with me is I just played dead I figured out my mutant powers then and they didn't notice at all and..."

It was too much for him. Just as he did a few days ago when he was found, he fell to his side, and blacked out. Once more, when he felt himself able to move again, he covered his face and curled up on his side. He felt someone watching him again and rolled over, seeing the four or five teachers outside the room and talking quietly to themselves. He heard that the girl from earlier was gone- she never stayed for long anyway, only one or two days sometimes. He heard one of the men mumbling about being able to sense metal. The professor nodded slowly. 'When he's awake I will approach him,' Taz heard him say.

He laid on his back now. His hands did not hurt anymore, thankfully. When the teachers had gone, Xavier came in. Taz let out a quiet chuckle.

"Secret's blown."

"Not exactly. Only Logan and the girl had seen, you're still good. Would you be willing to explain what exactly is going on?"

Taz grumbled quietly. "What they tried on her they tried on me first. They didn't think it worked, thought maybe it was because I was male or something, but really I just learned of my powers and feigned death until I was off the site. They were going to send me back to my parents, but I just kind of...got up and walked away. They wanted nothing to do with me since I was dead and all. The program's shut down now, I don't think it betters." He rubbed his arms. "It hurts, so I don't use that power. I just stick with my normal ones."

Xavier nodded. "People here are still eager to help you. We don't turn anyone away. You can stick with your true powers, or you can learn to hone your newer ones, whatever will make you comfortable. There's a bed ready for you in one of the boys' rooms, so you can sleep there if you wish. As far as I can tell, you're perfectly fine. Maybe using your powers a little...too well?"

The boy just laughed and pulled himself up. "Told you they were all over the place." He pulled his dark red jacket from the nearby table and yanked it on. "I'll go sleep in that room, I guess. This room gives me the creeps." And just like that, he sounded spunky and lighthearted and as if everything in the world was right. As he passed Xavier, he gave a smile. The professor smiled back, but frowned almost immediately after.

* * *

_**Shinzu:**_ Well, I have no idea what I'm doing and I haven't written anything for this fandom since I was like 11 years old and made terrible, terrible characters. Taz is completely revamped and I'm so glad literally none of you remember his first form, god bless. But lay on the commentary, I really need it; I only go off the cartoon canon and lol yeah what a CONVENIENT power for Taz okay I just fucking wanted him to have the claws like his old version and that's all I could figure out to do. If you can figure out a cool code name for Taz that'd be really cool too because I have literally no idea.


	2. Chapter 2

Sunday morning came too quick, but the sun through the windows woke him before anyone else. He crawled out of bed, swapped his pajamas for his jeans, t-shirt, and red zip-up hoodie, and slinked his way out of the room without so much as making a sound as to keep Jamie and Roberto. He sat on the railing of the stairs and slid all the way down, boucning to his feet gracefully. The kitchen was easy enough to find and after grabbing various food items, he flopped into one of the chairs of the dining room and started to wrestle with the crinkly, plastic cereal bag. It was unopened, and his nubby finger nails would not pierce it, nor would it stop stretching when he tried to stab a hole in it with his thumb. He sighed and stood up, rustling about in the kitchen to find the drawer or knives. He nearly screamed bloody murder when the door opened and he stabbed the cereal bag so vigorously that it impaled dozens of cereal bits. The man who came in snorted and Taz stiffened, holding his butter knife as if his life depended on it.

He tried to shuffle away with his bowl of cereal, but he could not. This man was someone he did not want to confront and here he was, standing there like an idiot with a knife in a bag of cereal. He tried to grin, managed to get his heart to stop beating a thousand miles per hour, and slowly yanked it out. "I uh- um. I- hi."

"You're up early, kid. You could have used something other than a butter knife, you know."

Taz swallowed, shifting so he could stare out the window, and ignored the second part of what Logan had said. "I guess so, I'm always up early." He let out a sheepish 'heh' and went to ripping the bag apart where he had stabbed it. "I missed dinner last night so I just...wanted food. I eat a lot, you know. Probably whatever they did to me, who knows. I uh...I'm going to go sit down or...or something." Without another word he took his bowl of cereal, a pint of milk, and a spoon, and shoved his way past the man to the dining room.

He was halfway through a bowl of cereal when there was a poof of smoke across the table from him. He nearly choked on his spoon and slammed his fist into his chest a few times, breathing as if he had just run three miles. Kurt waved to him and dropped a plate of toast between the two.

"Good morning!" he said with a smile, his tail waving. "Would you like some toast? I made lots for everyone!"

"Uhm...sure." Taz reached out for a piece and took a few bites of it before returning to his cereal. He kept clenching his fist and frowning, hardly noticing when Logan sat a few chairs down or when three other people stormed into the dining room, grabbing toast from the plate. He wanted to avoid so many people, such as Jean, Scott, or Logan, and was even wary around Beast. He did not want them to know just yet. "Is there uh...training today?"

"Right after breakfast," Kurt said with a sigh. Kitty grumbled from the doorway, but said nothing about it as she flopped into a seat between him and Jean. "But it's Sunday! We get to go into the Danger Room."

Groans erupted from all over. Taz chuckled quietly and wanted to ask about what the Danger Room was, but he heard "Taz, you will stay with me for a bit, I'd like to get you enrolled at the high school today before you go tomorrow." The professor came into the room now, greeting good morning to the others. Knowing he was a mind reader, Taz had no idea if everyone else had heard that or only him, so he covered his face with his hands and simply nodded. It was probably more than that, like...his powers...but he did not want to tell anyone yet. At least, not Scott or Jean or Beast or that one white haired man or anything. They probably already knew.

He took a deep breath and put on a smile. Amara waved to him and that Berserker kid nodded.

After lunch, he was standing in a wide office with the professor, in his black outfit as instructed, trying to explain his living situation, since he had been all over the place when he was little. At one point he was in Europe, and when he ran away he lived in Mexico and attended school there for a few years with a family who he had stumbled upon and helped out in cleaning the back yard. He tried to be vague, but with the professor giving him that hard look, he ended up spilling it all out into the open. With all of this he went on to enroll him in the school, and his worst nightmares came true.

"You're coming with me, kid."

"Oh no, no, no, no, I- I'll go to the Danger Room, I think I'd prefer that best, you know-?"

Logan grumbled and guided him down the hall. "Nope, you've got no say on this. Charles wants me to see what you can do."

"Nooo, please no." His breathing started to pick up. "I want nothing to do with it! It hurts, I can't get them to retract, no no no-"

He stumbled down the stairs and almost ran into the glass, but it opened before him and slammed shut when he was finally pushed outside into the cool morning air. The sky was clear, and with the allergy medicine he had taken the day previous, he could breath in without sneezing, and the fresh air rejuvenated him. Simply because he knew there was no getting out of it now, he followed Logan around to the fountain in the middle of the yard and stood there, trying to stall his way out of it by commenting on the weather or how pretty the angel was or how nice the grass smelled. Logan let out a disgruntled snarl and Taz backed up. He wrung his hands together, urging the man to just start talking or something already. It was taking all he had to keep his heart rate low and his muscles relaxed- the last time he got all tense...well, he passed out for the rest of the day!

A yelp escaped him when Logan turned and poked him in the chest. "There's too many of you kids showing up. Are you two for sure the only ones who made it out?"

"Well considering I watched most others die, yeah, I'm pretty sure." Taz swallowed, holding up his hands in innocence. His knuckles were calloused over, as well as his palms and the heel of his palm. Trees; he climbed a lot of trees. "S-s-so what are we doing? I don't have to show anyone else right...?"

"Why wouldn't you want to show anyone else?"

Taz slumped and Logan pulled away. "That's not me. I mean I was raised that way, to fight and junk and all this other dumb crap, but my other powers are me. I'm just a clone. Kind of. Somehow?" He crossed his arms, looking away. The trees were awfully pretty. "I don't know, they said I'm a clone, but I have two other parents. That's...what they said. Maybe I tricked myself into believing it. But I know I come from someone because I have these cool powers that are my own and look at that I'm rambling. I'll stop uh- what do you want me to do? I can sort of fight, I remember how to a little bit."

"No, we've got to work on something else. Took us twenty minutes last night to get those claws of yours retracted and that was because _Erik_ just so happened to be there. You need to relax."

"Yeah that's easy enough to say. I can pretend I'm relaxed, does that work?" The man shook his head and Taz sighed. "Why do I need to, anyway? I don't want to hurt anyone, it'd be easier to just...keep them away."

He was poked in the chest again and then Logan turned and started heading off toward a large grassy area. "You'll end up hurting more people if you can't control it than you ever would knowing how to use them." He sounded somewhat kind, but Taz was hardly convinced. Since knowing him, all he ever heard were snarls and growls and a deep gritty voice, and being alone with him with absolutely no witnesses was nerve wracking. Taz had to tell himself over and over that he was one of the guys that stopped Apocalypse a few months ago, and everything was fine.

Taking a breath of fresh air, Taz followed, his hands clenched at his sides.. When they stopped, he stood a few yards away, trying to imply he was not dreading the whole thing.

"Show 'em to me."

"What?"

Taz got an unimpressed look from Logan. He pursed his lips and nodded, but he stood, absolutely frozen in place. His jaw visibly clenched. "I don't want to. It hurts. I don't like pain."

"We'll you're going to have to get used to it, kid," Logan snarled. "Can't have you run around all willy nilly without any sort of control what so ever. That's what we're here for, and we'd like to get started sooner rather than later."

"Can't we do this later? I just got here...shouldn't I be given like...an orientation or something?"

"Welcome to orientation." He smirked.

"Oh my god, I hate you." Taz buried his face in his hands and took a deep breath. He took multiple in fact, and spent nearly three minutes just thinking to himself. When he figured there was absolutely no way out of something like this, he brought his hands down, brought his feet apart, and squared his shoulders as he was taught to when he was a kid. Swallowing, he gritted his teeth. His hands felt like they were on fire, but he felt relief soon after.

Logan nodded. He held out his arms and revealed his own claws. "Wasn't too hard now was it, kid?" They disappeared and he crossed his arms. "You aren't as good as the girl. Never taught how?"

The boy puffed out his cheeks, releasing the air with a pop. "Honestly, no. I ran away before they could force me into much. Maybe I'm also better at socializing because I was only number eight. X-08." He let his hands drop, but was unable to uncurl his fingers. "I managed to get away. They still think I'm dead."

Before he had even finished saying that, there was a poof of smoke. On impulse, Taz let out a horrified screech and held up his hands protectively, his claws crossed over his face. His entire body tensed up and pain flared in his fists again. Nightcrawler looked frantic, his tail lashing, eyes wide. Taz lowered his arms ever so slightly. His arms trembled. He wanted no one to see him, but Nightcrawler hardly seemed to notice.

"Kitty phased through the Danger Room, it's all malfunctioning now!" He threw his hands into the air as if to prove a point. "Jamie was hit and the weather system's going nuts and Magneto's off with those Brotherhood boys and-" Kurt was exasperated, hardly able to sit still. He disappeared in a puff of smoke that made Taz start coughing.

Logan snarled. "Come with me."

Well, that definitely was a disaster. He sat up in the operating room while Jean worked at the buttons and Storm fought off the weather and Logan unburied Jamie from a small pocket of air under dozens of metal pieces. He sat in a corner, tapping the ends of his claws against the flat sides of the claws on his other hand, trying to force them to retract. It just made his wrists and knuckles hurt worse, but he was desperate. He glanced around as if he was a robber about to pull of a heist and even attempted to jam his claws into the walls of the room, but he just pierced it instead of actually getting them to retract.

He was too tense. With all of the noise in the room, it was too hard for him to focus on his natural powers and relax. Now he kind of wished Logan was with him, at least he would help. Maybe. That guy was an _animal_, a terrifying one at that!

Taz muttered quietly to himself, saying 'no no no' over and over. Jean noticed his distress, however, and thankfully, she chose to ignore it and caught a chunk of the wall before it crushed another student. Apparently some of the gears had gone dead and things were just falling, but what did he care? His hands were sweaty and he could not get himself far enough into the corner to satisfy his fears.

"Hello there, friend! Let's go." Kurt appeared out of nowhere, grabbed the collar of his uniform, and teleported out of the room and into the nearby hallway. He patted him on the back and disappeared, and Taz was too stressed to even bother screaming. He dropped to the ground as he had in the operating room, not even noticing the wheelchair a few feet away.

Xavier held out a hand to him, but he shook his head. "I can't move my hands like this," he said, reverting back to tapping his claws together. "I hate this so much, why did I have to do this, why can't I just stick with my regular powers." He rubbed his eyes with his shoulders, utterly defeated.

"Taz, you need to relax," the professor tried to sooth. "For now just try, and later maybe I can get Jean to teach you meditation. Can you stand up?"

"I- I guess." He spent a moment getting hi, his hands freezing on the cold tile, and was wobbly when he got to his feet. His head rushed and spun, but this time he was not going to let himself pass out. "Please help me, I don't like this. I've never liked it, it hurts too much. You should help them in there, though, some of the kids were buried and there's snow-"

"Don't worry, it's under control. In fact, they're taking some of the students to the infirmary as we speak. Why don't you come with me there, too?"

"They saw."

The professor started to go down the hall, passing Taz, who just stood there staring blankly ahead of himself. He stared at the metal walls for what felt like forever and finally turned on his heel. His boots' clumped steps echoed through the halls. When he got to that familiar bed, he practically collapsed on it, face first into the pillow. He woke up some two hours later, on his back, and threw himself into a sitting position, rubbing his hands together. Everything seemed too calm, and he was too restless, but he had use of his hands again and he was flooded with relief. It was probably that Magneto guy who helped, the one with the white hair and the flowy cape.

Before checking to see if anyone else was there, he jumped to his feet, walked out, and went straight for his room, swapping his uniform with his regular clothes. His hands shook; the house was warm, the trees swayed lazily, the security was always on- he had no reason to shake, be cold, or frightened. He just had to start pumping whatever would make him relaxed and happy, and by the time he left his room, there was a smile on his face.

But how long would doing this last? Would he always be able to do this to himself, or would be become immune to his own powers? His smile faltered as he went down the stairs, but he pulled it on again to confront beast.

"Ah, hello there, nice to see you up and moving! We always get so worried when one of the students passes out." He laughed, and Taz chuckled lightly, unsure what to say.

"You know don't you?"

"Know what?" Beast raised an eyebrow.

Taz shook his head. "Never mind, where is everyone?"

"Out back in the pool. You can head out there if you want, a few of us are staying in here to help with dinner. Hang out wherever you'd like, Taz."

He continued down the stairs two at a time and took a step out back, where he was greeted by at least a dozen people.

"Feeling better already?" Xavier asked. He sat off to the side, watching as kids pushed others into the pool or threw water balloons. "I expected you to be out for a bit longer, perhaps until nightfall. It's wonderful you're feeling up to being with everyone."

"I'm just being stupid, too hasty." Taz shoved his hands into his jacket pockets. He felt a bit numb from what he wanted to ask. "I'm good with socializing, but no good with stress, I guess. I hope nothing happens at school tomorrow. I haven't been there in almost a year."

Xavier nodded and interlaced his fingers. He looked at Taz with a smile. "From what I've gathered, you should be fine as a sophomore. There are plenty of people here to help you too should you desire it. Did you have a change of heart?"

What? For a moment he had no idea what he was talking about, but after some thought, he hummed. "I'm just...should I...start using those powers?" His voice shook. After clearing it, it sounded stronger. "I'm afraid of hurting people, but Logan said I'd...hurt more people if I didn't know how to use them..."

"It is solely up to you what you want to do. Logan can help you privately, or you can show everyone and try to work on it slowly and surely, or you can forget they even exist, though I can assure you it would be best if you learned." There was truth in what he was saying, Taz knew. "Just know you can show everyone whenever you're ready."

"I wasn't ready this morning."

"We thought it would be best to see what you could do to gauge your experience. We won't do it again, don't worry." He started to roll toward the school and gestured for Taz to go be with the others. "You can decide later. For now go have fu-"

Shouts got closer. Taz screeched as he was picked up, even more petrified by the person who had grabbed him. Roberto, in his powered up form, laughed and Jamie encouraged him and out of nowhere he was thrown into the pool with absolutely no mercy. Scott fished him out and pulled him onto dry land, but the short boy wrenched himself away, slipped, and grabbed Sunspot as he went in again.

* * *

Shinzu: Wow, update two days in a row? More like I had 2 days off and no idea what to fucking do so I spend my time writing absolutely terrible X-Men fanfiction. Oh well. I do appreciate every single one of you who reads this, and if you could give your criticism that would be utterly fantastic in shaping what this could be. Tear it apart if you want, I just want to know what I'm doing right or wrong.


	3. Chapter 3

Gloves made him feel better mentally even if they served absolutely no physical purpose except to keep his hands warm. He had been given a pair to keep on when he felt something was off, a little psychological experiment by Jean, and as much as he appreciated the gesture, they proved more of a hassle than they were worth. The soft material slipped against the smooth bindings of his text books and multiple times he almost dropped them before even getting to his locker. Few people bothered to greet him or help him, they knew where he was from, but he put on a smile anyway, squared his shoulders, and went about his day. With most others, he was always friendly and kind and left them alone should they need it- that was how he gained friends last time, and that was how he would do it no, mutant or not. It was one of his traits that did not seem to throw the institute's teachers into exasperation.

Since it was March, the school year was almost over, a beautiful relief. School had always been terrible, but now he was in a school with a language he understood fluently, so perhaps it would not be so bad. Come the end of his second week, he had hardly been tormented as much as a few of the other kids- like Kurt or Roberto- and he flopped into his bed on Friday evening with a sigh of relief. He enjoyed getting up early, but he never said he was not tired! Being back in school again was exhausting.

"I need food..." he muttered to himself as he ripped off his gloves and jacket. He took a brush through his dark brown hair and stared in the mirror for what felt like forever. He felt different already, but hardly looked different. With a grumble, he took off down the stairs, decked out in clothes that the teachers had scrounged up for him when they figured what he came in was all he had.

He sat a few chairs away from Rahne and Bobby and Jubilation, plowing through at least two sandwiches. "Ugh, leave me alone, I'm hungry," he muttered as a few of them looked at him. Rahne laughed, shaking her head.

"No don't worry, just make sure there's some left over for everyone else!" She took the plate and a sandwich for her and the other two and off they went, running outside for something or other, even though they usually did homework right after coming home from school.

He was part of the new group of mutants. There were the X-Men, and then there were the students, and he was simply a student along with almost two dozen other people. But Taz was okay with that; it was relaxing for the most part, except when Logan would give him these looks from across the room or when others would ask farther about his powers. All he could say then was that he could only make himself pass out, that was it, and while it was somewhat truth, it was also partially a lie. He smiled to himself. Soon he would be able to show them. His heart swelled when he started to show them, when he was about to mention that he had something he wanted to show them, but he always shot himself down with 'not yet'.

Sometimes at night when everyone was asleep he would practice. Last night he practiced changing the chemical balances in his body, the previous night he spent twenty minutes messing with those pesky claws. Logan and the girl were so good at using them and fighting- he was pathetic compared to them, really. Terribly pathetic. Whenever Logan would lead training, he would standing the back, trying to hide his face. It left him flustered. He could hardly retract them without panicking.

But hey, he wanted to be sure they knew about his other powers first, and he had been told Jean and Kurt were not going to say anything. They went to great lengths here to make sure mutants were comfortable. Taz liked it.

After eating dinner, he had been told by Logan to get in his uniform and meet him out in the backyard, somewhere in the trees. The air was cool and refreshing, the sky still blue despite it turning orange in the distance. He stood in front of Jean and Logan. "What are we doing?" Taz asked, trying to make his voice loud and strong despite his trembling. He fidgeted with the long sleeves of his uniform, his hair fluttering lightly in a cool breeze.

"I have a little exercise for you, kid, but Charles won't let me pull out the blades. So Jean stepped in and said she could help out since you've...mellowed over the past week. Come on now, show me your claws!"

Taz jumped, his snarl piercing him right to the heart. "I uh- um- I don't want to. Not in front of her, not yet." Jean frowned, but she had a knowing look to her. He clenched his fists at his side, feeling them already beginning to burn. That was a lie. He wanted to show her, wanted to show everyone, but all he could do was fumble around and sometimes get a few gouges through a tree. That was embarrassing. But he took a deep breath and let it out slowly through his nose. He spread his feet apart and bent his knees, holding out his fists. They burned, but it was a pain he was getting used to.

He cleared his throat. "Why just me, though? What makes me so special? There's other mutants that could use some help, like that girl with the bird wings, or the boy who can stop powers and electricity, or that one telepathic kid, or...?"

Jean smiled sympathetically and reached out a hand, resting it on his shoulder. She had helped him recently with staying calm, and that was more than he could ever ask for. Why was everyone being so friendly, though? He did not understand. "We help everyone, even if it has to be one on one. When you're ready you can join everyone else."

"What am I doing?"

She lifted her hands into the air and various fruits floated above the crate they were brought out in. "It's to test your coordination, to see how well you can slice the fruit. Usually we used blades, but as Logan said, Charles didn't want to do that."

Taz retracted the claws on one hand and pinched the bridge of his nose. He sighed. "So what you're saying is I'm forced to play a game of /Fruit Ninja/?" He grumbled to himself and threw out his hand again. "Alright, can't be that bad, then. I'll do it."

First he was pelted in the head by a dozen oranges. He flailed for a moment, trying to see if he could just randomly catch one in the air, but aside from a few slices on the peals, he had not hit them at all. Logan grumbled, but Jean smiled and lifted them to the air again. "Here, try again. This time, concentrate on trying to hit them instead of flailing?" He scrunched his nose at her and waved one hand. The fruit started pelting him again. He leaped after one that was lower to the ground and tried an uppercut. Instead of hitting the fruit, his foot twisted, and he fell, his shoulder slamming into the ground from the sheer force of his attack. He groaned and rolled onto his back, his claws retracting.

"Bad idea," Taz said as he sat up. Logan held out a hand and he was hauled to his feet. "I'm just no good at this. But I'll try again!" He raised his hand again, about to show his claws, but laughter came from the trees. His face turned bright red both from embarrassment and anger. Swallowing, he started to back away, adjusting his yellow gloves over and over. They were too big, sliding around, with too many cuts in them now to be of use. He needed a distraction, and was surprised yet unsurprised when a puff of smoke appeared in front of him and Kurt gave him a thumbs up.

"That's so cool! You're like...a less angry 23!"

Taz grinned sheepishly and held his hands behind his back. He mumbled "I'm more than just a number" but it was so quiet no one heard him.

"Don't you have homework?" Logan snarled, pointing at him. "What are you doing here anyway, elf?"

He raised his hands with an innocent grin and took a step back. "I heard you guys in the kitchen earlier and I wanted to come watch? I'm sorry, I was just curious! Besides, I already know about his knives of death." He chuckled quietly, nervously, and took another few paces back, his tail low to the ground.

Jean sighed and opened her mouth to speak, but Taz jumped in. He held out a hand toward Kurt. "You can stay. Maybe you can fight the flying fruit with me! I don't know how much farther I can go, my wrists are on fire, but..."

"Maybe it'd be best to stop for the night," Jean said as she took Taz's hands and lifted them up. Under his gloves and uniform, his wrists were swollen. "Maybe we can get you some better gloves, it looks almost like a severe form of carpal tunnel. We'll see in the morning, it's starting to get dark." She moved the oranges back into the crate they came in, picked it up in her arms, and started back toward the school. Logan walked beside her with Kurt behind them, but Taz found himself almost unable to move. He rubbed his wrists, hoping this was only a temporary side affect.

When Logan called for him to catch up, he yanked his gloves back on and sprinted. He walked beside Kurt now, his face still a little red.

Lights were out at ten, though it was not required that anyone actually sleeps. It was to allow students to sleep should they want to, so long as everyone else was quiet. Taz sat underneath his covers with a book in hand, ironically one of his text books. History fascinated him and he wanted to know every little bit that he could, from ancient Egypt to modern day Russia and America. It was something he had always been in his life and though these books were hardly any information at all- America, what would one expect?- he still read and enjoyed them until it was nearly midnight. His wrists were still on fire, and after creeping down to the kitchen for some ice to put on it, he pulled his covers back and fell into bed. Jamie was snoring and a few yards away from his bed was Roberto, sprawled out until there was no space left on his bed. Taz muttered quietly to himself about strange roommates, and rested his head on his pillow.

He dozed off, but never slept. At nearly three in the morning, after tossing and turning countless times, he sat up and removed the now melted ice off his wrists and onto the nightstand. He rubbed his forehead, temples, and his achy, itching eyes for a few minutes. Moonlight shone into the room, illuminating the carpet, their dressers, a few of the tables. Maybe he could see if Xavier had any idea on what would help him sleep. Taz pulled away the blankets, stood, and began to walk out of the room when he saw out of the corner of his eye a figure standing over Roberto's bed.

For a moment he assumed it was just him getting up, but as he crept closer, he found that he was about to bear down with a knife. Fear coursed through Taz; these were his new friends. He let his claws out despite the pain in his wrist and crept toward Roberto's bed as quietly as he could. Not one to snarl and growl, Taz was good at being quiet.

Taz leaped as the guy swung his arm down. He grabbed the person by the front of their shirt with one hand and held his claws to his throat with the other hand. Somehow the person managed to wrench out of his grip and run across the room, and Taz followed, leaping over Jamie's bed. Jamie let out a horrified shout, rolling off his bed, as the person looked at Taz with cold, solid blue eyes and a wicked, yellow grin.

"Wait!" it shouted to him, but he would not respond. Taz took him by the shirt again and pinned him against the wall, keeping his claws so close to his throat so that if he moved he would be cut. This was what he wanted to have happened with the oranges, sliced just like he was about to do with this strange man's neck.

Jamie disappeared, and the entire room became silent. His breath was labored, his wrists hurt like he could not believe. Sweat built up on his brow and though he was sure he should have killed him, he forced his muscles to relax and his grip on the man loosened. His mouth hung open as he took in as much air as he could; his mind was clearing, and he saw Roberto with wide eyes, a terrified frown, and trembling fingers. His entire body was black, but no fire had erupted yet. He was pinned to his headboard with Taz standing over him, and he retracted his claws and fell back. Behind him the door slammed open and he was grabbed from behind. Suddenly it felt as if every ounce of energy had been taken out of him in one swift, sweet blow that left him in a daze.

He slumped, closing his eyes. Nothing felt real anymore. There was an abundance of shouting and hollering. Taz opened his eyes weakly, finding himself facing Logan, Xavier, Erik, and Beast. "Nnn- what?"

He tried to move, but it was impossible. At first his gaze snapped to Xavier, but then it turned to Erik, who was holding his hand in the air, his fingers sprawled.

"He was going to kill us!" Jamie piped up from the back. Four clones shouted varying stories. Beast walked over to Roberto, having him sit on the bed. The boy's tan face was pale, his entire body trembling. He could hardly move his fingers and three small scratches sat side by side along the base of his neck.

Taz's breathing got shorter. He struggled against the magnetic affects of Erik to no avail. "Let me go, please," he begged, tears welling up in his eyes. "Please I didn't mean it. I thought- I thought he was someone else. Please-"

Xavier shook his head. "You almost harmed another student. You will be coming with us for the time being. Hank, stay with Roberto and Jamie, please." He turned out of the room and something in Taz felt a pull. He was forced down the hall and to the lower floors of the institute. Jean and Scott were working to keep some of the students at ease.

"Let me- let me go!"

He was seated in a chair. He felt the grip lighten significantly, but it was there, waiting for him to make the wrong move before it pounced and swallowed him up again. His head was pounding. Xavier came up to him and from the reflection of himself in his brown eyes he could see a terribly disturbed face, sunken eyes, a torn lower lip for whatever reason. Two fingers touched each of his temples and he was sucked into a cold, endless darkness. He looked left and looked right, or what he assumed was the two directions, and his chest tightened. Endless spaces. He squeezed his eyes shut and came upon that memory of what had just happened, him going after that man with blue eyes and a wicked grin. Something else began to arise. A mist cleared and he felt himself tearing the walls to shreds, slamming Roberto into the wall, knocking Jamie aside with such force as to create an indent in the wall.

It all shattered like glass and he pulled his hands up to his head, digging his fingers through dark brown, almost black, locks of sweaty hair. Xavier rolled back and turned to the other teachers who had accompanied him. "He will stay down here with supervision until I can make sense of this mess. I'm sorry, Taz."

"Don't lock me up again," he said, his voice so strained as to barely be heard. "Please I- I-"

Taz's eyes began to shut. He hunched over, assuming Erik would be staying. To his surprise, the man left, leaving Logan to stare at him with cold eyes. Taz expected a lecture, but the man crouched down in front of him.

"I'm starting to wonder if they didn't think you were dead," Logan said. "Why did you do that?"

"There was a guy and he was going to kill them and..." He curled up on the chair, pulling his knees to his chest. "Help me. Help me please. I don't remember I don't know what I did I was just trying to stop him." Taz rubbed the tears from his eyes and tried to stand up, but he could hardly move his legs. He slammed his fists into the armrests and tried to unsheath his claws, tried swinging his arms. He moved like he was in caramel or syrup, too slow to bother.

He slumped back. He was so tired, but sleep would not come. His head pounded, and he tried to articulate that to Logan, but he did not think he managed to get his point across. Taz mumbled, kept seeing strange black figures with solid blue eyes and yellow grins with pointed teeth like razors. He managed to get to his feet to attack one. Three of them came out of nowhere. Shouts blocked his mind and a quiet voice told him to sit back down. It was impossible to move his arms or legs again, even his head was bard to move.

Erik frowned at him. It had to be morning. Taz dug his nubby nails into his forehead, unable to stop the tears. His temples were lightly touched again, sucking him back into a time when he was smaller and younger, running around a field with two other kids and a soccer ball. It flashed ahead to a bright sunny day in a city of dancers and sweet smelling food. Taz, in an alley, had one of the kids by the front of his shirt. His 'brother' he liked to say, he was flailing and trying to get back, but he had his claws pressed firmly against his neck. Something seemed to snap in him then and he withdrew his claws, dropping to his knees.

That was when he left nearly a year ago. It faded away and he jumped to his feet, shoved back by a force he could not see.

"I told you- I told you I didn't want to use these powers- I-" Taz looked at Erik with pleading eyes. He swallowed. "I'm sorry. I can go if you want, really-"

"We don't turn mutants away," Logan said. "Especially not one who needs help."

"I don't know what to do. Is Roberto and Jamie okay? I didn't hurt them did I?"

Xavier was quiet at first, then shook his head. "No, they should both be fine. But that doesn't excuse this. You had no memory of this until I stepped in. There has to be something they did to you before you managed to get away; I don't think that your abilities to play dead would have gone by so easily with Hydra. Do you have any memories of what could have happened, Taz?"

He stared at the creamy walls of the room he had been taken to. He searched his mind for what could have happened but came up with blanks. He remembered other test subjects coming in after him wand some having even been born at that place; he remembered the fight testing with these strange robots, the terrible food. But nothing that would explain what happened.

Suddenly he was up against a wall, but unlike with himself, there were no sharp knives pointing at his neck. "You have got to stop that," Logan said, not releasing his grip. Taz, with the force of Erik's power having left his body, lifted his arms and tried to shake then off. He tried kicking him and fighting back. He was simply too tired and slumped forward. It had to have been almost six or seven in the morning by now. "He needs sleep, Charles." He let Taz go and he dropped to his feet, stumbling about until he found a seat.

"He does, you're right. Erik, could you keep an eye on Taz for a few hours?"

"For a few hours, yes, but not all day." Erik lifted a hand again and Taz nearly passed out. He managed to stumble back up to his room, avoiding the gazes of the other students, and fell face first into his bed. His stomach churned and everything shook and his head pounded like none other headache he had ever had.

A sweet aroma woke him. He opened an eye and found a plate of chips and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. He restrained himself from wolfing it down, taking his time, and finished it in a few minutes. There was a bowl of macaroni and cheese, but he did not eat that, and stood by the window with a frown on his face, hands jammed into his pajama pants pockets. He looked at all the damage that had been done the night before, his heart falling more with each passing second. The curtains were torn up, the pretty walls were gouged out close to the floorboards and at head level, the window had nicks in it, even some of the bed sheets had been torn up. He really had been dead set on trying to kill these other kids.

With a determined look, Taz stormed out of the room, but was stopped in his tracks by Erik, who sat on a chair outside the door, one leg crossed over the other with a mug of coffee in one hand. He loudly cursed the metal bones he had been given and looked at Erik. If he was the kind of person to snarl, he would have snarled.

"I think they want me to kill you guys," he said hurriedly. "I think they think I can just execute you all. Please don't let them do this please get them out of my head." Taz jerked his shoulders, but he was all scrunched up like a scared spider, his shoulders raised, fists at his side, standing stiffly. "Please let me see the professor."

"Calm down child, we have already figured this. It's believed that maybe there is something in you- a chip- and want to get you under a scan. I'm sure if we can't find anything, destroying the Hydra lab you were created at will do the trick." He sounded so sure of himself, but so blunt at the same time, that Taz gritted his teeth. "You can't do anything to me under my powers, child. Or as Logan would say, Possum. Take it easy for a while, we don't want any others getting hurt."

He was dropped to the ground unceremoniously as Erik stood and began to head down the hall to the stairs. Taz, with no idea what to do, stumbled back into his bed and stared at all the damage he had caused. Roberto probably hated him now, and he would become the butt of Jamie's jokes, and Jean would probably want to steer clear of him, but they were okay. He had no harmed them too bad and felt sick when he remembered the scratches he had made on the fiery boy's neck in the dead of night. Trying and failing to hold the tears back, Taz covered his face and let out a quiet wail. Not again, not again. He had almost harmed his brother, and now his new friends.

He felt a hand on his back. "What do you want?" he snapped, throwing the person back. There was a puff of smoke and Kurt sat at the foot board, waving with a sympathetic smile. "Oh it's you. What?" Taz sniffed and rubbed the tears off his face. His wrists were hurting again.

"Dude, I just wanted to say that none of us hate you. I bet you think we do, but we don't!" Kurt gave one of his dorky grins, but Taz only gave a pathetic sigh. "Don't think for a moment that we do. At least, the X-Men don't. The other students...well, you can always ignore them."

"I almost killed Sunny! What do you expect me to do- just- just forget this ever happened? That's a very awkward statement coming from YOU of all people." Taz's breathing picked up. He concentrated hard and felt a pleasant warmth spread through his body. "I'm sorry, Kurt. Thank you, it means a lot to me."

Kurt gave him a thumbs up. "Apology accepted! Hey, you didn't eat your macaroni."

"I don't like cheese."

"Bummer. I can get you...I think we have chicken left over from last night, or we can get you some soup, or oranges..."

* * *

Shinzu: This is like 2000 words longer than I expected it to be. I'm sorry about that! And as it turns out I guess Taz and Kurt are friends and Taz fucking picked up Logan's habit of calling people dumb nicknames I mean he's a clone thing I guess there'll be SOME similarities. I'm still open for suggestions on his code name, I don't quite think 'Possum' will work out. Unless it does, but Possum is a TERRIBLE hero name honestly. Well I hope you enjoy and I'll be going through and editing this more later. As an impatient person who simply doesn't feel like reading this 5 times in a row there will probably be a ton of mistakes, hhh.

Also basically this is just a ton of shenanigans and other dumb shit and small plots because why not. Should I start including other OCs? What about other peoples OCs? I want it to have a 'next generation' feel without the whole 'kick all the older mutants out in favor of their new and terrible children'.


End file.
